If a picture says a thousand words...

I've been back from France for almost two months now. It's really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it's really already been two months since I've been back. That's 2/3 of how long I was actually in France. Thankfully, my time in France didn't fly by nearly as quickly as this semester has so far. And I'm also grateful for how quickly this semester has flown by...

However, the fact that I've been back from France for two months also means that I haven't posted here in almost two months.

School happened. And that's okay.

To get myself to post here on a consistent basis again, however, I'm going to be doing a weekly post dedicated to a self-portrait that depicts how my week went. So it'll be kind of fun, but it will also challenge me artistically. This is in part due to the fact that I'm really trying to get my photography business started up again. (PS, if you or anyone you know in the Utah Valley needs a photographer, send them my way. If you mention my blog or this post, I'll give you 10% off)

Being back in school has been really busy and stressful and I've been crazy slammed trying to keep on top of homework and two jobs. And I'm doing an all right job, I like to think.

So, here's my self-portrait for this past week. Normally I'll be posting these on Sundays, right before the new week starts. So lucky you, you sorta get two photos this week. ;)

Because I've been drowning in homework

You didn't think that was the end, did you?

My Summer is coming to an end. I'm currently sitting at my gate at the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, waiting for my flight(I have a good two hours before boarding...). 

Obviously, my posts about my journey through Europe became somewhat lacking the farther into the summer I went. I got busy, but more importantly, I got tired. However, being incredibly tired didn't prevent me from learning an enormous amount. 

And I couldn't just leave my summer posts in the air like that. So, like any good story, here is the clincher, the conclusion, the 33 things I learned:

Americans are kinda rude. Being in Europe, specifically in Paris, everyone is more polite. Even if you don't know the people you're walking past on the street, if you make eye contact, you say "Bonjour". It's just polite. I can't imagine saying hello to everyone I made eye contact with in the States. 

Sandwiches mean very different things to different people. You may laugh. But you never realize that a sandwich doesn't mean two slices of bread with an insane amount of meat, veggies, and cheese, until you're given two slices of bread with some fish paste spread between them and told it is a sandwich. 

If you're listening to music in a different language, the age demographic doesn't really matter. This was kind of already proved back why "Oppa Gangnam Style" came out. No one understands the lyrics, but it was a huge song. While here, whenever we were in the car, we listened to French childrens music. And it was dang catchy. When I said goodbye yesterday, they gave me a copy of the soundtrack that we listened to the most as a parting gift(which we all laughed pretty hard about). But you'd be a fool to think I won't be listening to it.

Sparkling water is an acquired taste.

I love cheese even more than I thought I did. If you ask my old roommates, they can tell you that I really loved cheese when I left. Imagine that love magnified so so much. 

Cucumbers ain't that bad. Kind of like with the sandwiches, you kinda just smile and take the food offered to you and you pretend to enjoy it, dang it. I never liked cucumbers. But after eating them almost daily for the past 3 months, I definitely don't hate them anymore.

I relearned how to ride a bike. Embarrassing that I sorta forgot? Don't worry, after 5 minutes I was a pro again. ;)

America can't make croissants. Just...no.

Sweatpants aren't acceptable outside your home. No one leaves their house unless they look perfectly acceptable. The ONE time I walked across the street in basket ball shorts to run to the store, I got so many odd stares.

I learned how to be alone. 

I learned to separate the people that I really care about from those that I don't.

Hershey's chocolate kinda sucks. Don't hate. If you've had French chocolate, you can never go back.

I learned French. Hahahahaaaaaa. Just kidding. Je pas parle un peu Francais. (I only speak a little French) And don't think for a second that I didn't spend the last 3 weeks practicing how to say that a thousand times a day. S/o to Simeon for teaching me how to say it. 

How to run more than a mile. Running is the same everywhere you go. It was a comfort to me to be able to go on a run, no matter which city we went to. In London, I went on an 8 mile run. Proudest moment of the UK.

If a kid tells you they hate you, they'll probably just turn around in 20 minutes and tell you they love you. 

How to eat. And really love it. I mean, I thought I loved eating. And while I still love sitting down with a jar of nutella and ice cream(sorry), I have learned the beauty in sitting down to a well portioned, well balanced meal, and enjoying the crap outta that meal.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

I learned how to be me again. There's a lot of time to focus on yourself in a summer like this. Which is absolutely what I needed.

How to order bread in French. Again, a huge accomplishment. ;)

Even if you go on different paths, everyone you love will still love you.

How to not be a workaholic.

Toy tractors are the best babysitters. 

You don't need a TV to be happy. I'm pretty sure that these kids watched movies less than 5 times this summer. And everytime, it was while they were having a dinner party(so they were with other kids), or while we were on the train. No one just veges out and watches TV here. It's beautiful. 

You don't have to be a tourist every moment you're somewhere foreign to enjoy your time. 

I rediscovered my love for reading. The past few years have been so hectic, I've never really had the chance to read as much as I would've liked. This summer, I read 23 books. And I'm half way done with my 24th. And the most impressive thing about this, is that more than half of these books were not fluffy. I read books on education systems, nutrition and diet, adrenal burnout, and self-reflection. I learned a lot this summer.

Food is art. 

Small sacrifices can lead into huge opportunities. 

The fact that most American born people only speak English is kinda sad. These kids are 5 and 7, and they're fluent in both French and English. And the majority of people in Paris speak English fluently as well. 

Being a tourist sucks.

It's okay to not be busy.

I would rather drive somewhere than fly. With a few exceptions. Flying is really stressful. Driving is easier. 

Europe is by far, more beautiful than the US(mostly). 

I love my family. Okay, you got me, I already knew this. But I was reminded of it daily. My family, especially my mother, has been such a support to me this summer and I couldn't have asked for a better support system. 

L'Isle d'Yeu: France week 11

It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I'm finished here. I board a plane in the morning, and I'm off...

But that's for another blog post. ;)

L'Isle d'Yeu. (Pronounced Lil djew)

The whole week, I couldn't stop thinking that my mother would LOVE this place. It's so cute. Honestly, my mom would've been totally in her element.

This is an island off the Western coast(in my previous posts I kept saying the Eastern coast. Oops. Directionally challenged). It's really well preserved, so it's just this quaint little place. None of the cars are newer than 15 years old, but almost no one drives cars anyway. Everyone gets around by bike. And really, it's a pretty small island. You can drive across the whole thing in 30 minutes, length wise.

We logged 53 miles on our bikes this week. That's a hecka lot of miles.

E's and my tandem bike.

This was the first time that there were no lessons we had to run the kids to. With much less of an agenda, it was nice to know that we would try to do certain things in one day, but if we didn't get to it all, it was okay.

We visited a farm one day, and helped herd sheep, we visited a ton of little hidden beaches, we ate a lot of crepes, visited a few adorable markets(my favorite thing about France!), visited a light house, and mostly just rode our bikes everywhere.

The little light house we visited.

The most beautiful little beach we found. 

With only a few exceptions, every house looked like this one. 

This week felt like it rushed past. As we were on the boat back to the mainland yesterday, I thought back to the boat trip to the island a little over a week earlier. And I couldn't believe it had already been over a week.

In fact, I can't believe I've been here almost 3 months. I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm definitely looking forward to school and seeing my family and friends, but I'm seriously going to miss this family, and I'll definitely miss Paris. When we drove into the city last night, my heart leaped and I realized that I'd missed the actual city so so much this past month that we've been gone.

And I can't wait til I can come back. :)

Rain or shine, we'll make it to the beach: Dinard(France weeks 9 and 10)

These past two weeks, we have been in Dinard, Brittany, which is the North-Eastern area of France.

I was considering posting something at the one week point, but I figured that the second week would be very similar to the first(I was right! Ha!) so I decided to keep you all in suspense an extra week, since I'm sure you were all DYING to know what I'm doing. ;)

Let me start by stating, it's really beautiful here.

Like, very beautiful.

We arrived here Saturday, August 2nd, the day after we got back from London. It was a whirlwind, getting ourselves repacked, sleeping, and then up bright and early to beat the traffic on our way to Brittany(Bretagne, if you're French).

And with the exception of a very few days(I think maybe one day) we have gone to the beach. Despite rainy weather and high tide. If it stops raining for 5 minutes, the kids are in their suits, ready to go to the beach.

The sand castle that E and I made on our first day in Dinard!

My morning run on the beach is BEAUTIFUL. 

Dutifully collecting shells and making castles.

E did M's hair and we were cracking up for an hour.

The first week, S and E had pony riding lessons every day. It kept us busy, because E had her lessons for 3 hours in the morning, then we had two hours(for transportation and food) and then S had his lesson for 3 hours. Then we'd squeeze in the beach, do baths, dinner, and put the tired kiddos to bed. And then do it all over again! Helene(my host mom) and I traded off taking kids to their lessons. And when we took them, we would stay the entire 3 hours before bringing them back home. It definitely made for good reading time.

Then this week, S and E had sailing lessons everyday. Luckily, their lessons were at the same time, in the afternoon. So we fill our mornings with various activities(the beach, coloring, writing postcards), and then after lunch, the parents take the big kids to their lesson, and I put M down for his nap. Again, good reading time(AKA, lots of job applications...).

One of our "rainy day" coloring projects. 

Mini golfing with S! :)

Learning how to do cartwheels...

The house we're renting is overlooking St. Enogat beach. Literally, the beach is down a flight of stairs. It's practically in our back yard.

Despite the sunburn(only for me, I make sure to slather the kids up really well!!!), occasional tears(from all parties, I'm sure), and the inescapable sand on every surface, the experience in Dinard has been amazing. E told me that this is her favorite destination of the holidays so far, because of the beach, haha. The kids are loving it!

Tomorrow morning, we head off to our final destination, about 4 1/2 hours away from Dinard. I'd tell you the name, but I'm not entirely sure of where we are going. French people have very thick accents, and after asking them to repeat the name of our destination 3 times, I just say, "Oh, that sounds lovely!' and decide to wait until we arrive to figure out where we are!

There are 10 days left until I head to the airport, which is very bittersweet. I'm so dang excited to get to school(even though I'm missing the first week...oops), but I'm going to miss these kids a ton.

All good things must come to an end, and I look forward to getting to visit the family, when I return to Paris(which will be who knows when!).

"If you don't like London weather, wait 5 minutes": "Paris" week 8 & 8.5

This week, we ventured out of the country. Hello, United Kingdom. 

Wednesday morning we left for a London. Once we arrived, we just spent the afternoon in St. James park, and got ice cream. It was nice to not have an agenda straightaway. 

The view from the bridge at St. James' Park.

Thursday morning we headed to the science museum. The kids LOVED it. We did flight simulators, lots of interactive games, and Simeon got his hand lit on fire during the explosion show.

On one of the flight simulators..

Later that afternoon, by the children's request, we rode the bus to the Big Ben. Honestly, they just wanted to ride the bus. 

One of my favorite things about London was how blatant their advertising was. "Proper burgers", "really good cellulite oil". And it was serious, which was honestly the best part.

Friday morning, before we left London, I went on an incredibly long run, to Earls Court, to see a Police Box replica. Then, we headed to Windermere, in the Lake District. And honestly, it was probably the worst traveling experience of my life. 

The train got oversold. So when we got onto the train, there were no seats left, and it was already completely packed. So we ended up standing the entire 2 1/2 hours. What made it worse, the Air Conditioning wasn't working. A dozen bodies in a small amount of space, with no air? I got so sick. 

But then our second train had space and air, and then we got to Windermere. And it was beautiful. Not quite as beautiful as France, in my opinion. But maybe I'm biased. And I'm definitely a bit spoiled.

While in Windermere, we did hiking, the Beatrix potter museum, rode steam boats and steam trains, we took a motor boat out onto the lake, visited a castle, the kids did pony riding, and we managed to coax S through a ropes course.

The view from the top of our hike.

E on the steamer train.

Windermere "world famous" ice cream.

S on the motor boat we rented.

Quickly taken selfie with Peter Rabbit.

The views were amazing and the food was just as amazing. 

We're traveling enough that most mornings, M wakes up and asks when we're taking the train. 

After 5 nights in Windermere, we headed back to London for 2 nights, before returning to Paris before the next big trip...

While in London the second time around, there was a lot of getting lost, a lot of walking, and a little bit of fish and chips. 

All in all, honestly, a wonderful trip. It was beautiful, and fun, and I'm bonding with the kids more and more and that makes me so happy. 

If beauty doesn't matter, does that just make you a loser?

Paris has the highest amount of Tourist traffic year round over any other destination.

Aside from the fact that it's somewhat annoying to live somewhere so heavy with tourism, it's given me a continuous refresher of the culture back home.

The culture in France is somewhat different than in the US. Aside from the more obvious, there's this whole bit about how the people(specifically the women) aren't absorbed in dieting fads. There are dozens of reasons why, but the most important to me is that these women KNOW how to take care of themselves, and so they do, and they're proud of their bodies.

This isn't even the point of my post, but I promise I'm getting there.

While in Paris, I haven't seen nearly as many negative ads towards women. There isn't this huge air of horrid self-image. I'm not saying that they don't judge themselves. But the fact is, MOST of the women care about their bodies. They don't sit in front of the tv at night(or ever, really) and binge eat Ben & Jerry's and packaged cookies. They don't snack mindlessly while they do homework/work/sit at the computer. They eat three meals a day. No more, no less. They take their time, and eat until they're just content, not stuffed. And their dessert, unless they're on holiday, usually consists of fruit.

A few weeks back, I was walking to the library, not really paying attention to my surroundings. You know once you know the pattern, and routine of somewhere you're going, and you stop paying attention to the trip, but only the destination? So, as I'm walking, I hear a group of people speaking English ahead of me. Now, remember how high the tourist rate is in Paris? Despite this, I always get somewhat excited when I hear people speaking English. My brain turned off auto-pilot for a minute as I took in this family. One of the girls in the family looked to be about 12-13. She was a bit on the chubby side, and wearing a shirt that said "BEAUTIFUL LOSER".

And I got kinda mad.

I don't think I would ever see a Parisian wearing something self-deprecating like that.

What is it about Americans that make us feel like it's okay to consistently put ourselves down? And have it be accepted by everyone?

Some people argue that if we're drawing the attention to it purposely, it's kind of like owning up to it. Like,if we make fun of it first, no one else can make fun of it, right?

I used to think like that. In fact, 2 years ago my best friend and I made t shirts(Glee style) that clearly stated our biggest physical insecurity. Later that week, we wearing them and another friend walked up to me and said, "Why on earth would you wear that?" I blinked a few times before telling him that I was owning up to my ugly legs. He looked at me like I was stupid, and then told me that he wouldn't have noticed any problems with my legs until he saw that shirt. Once he saw the shirt, he started wondering if there WAS something wrong with my legs(we were at a lake. So seeing my legs all day, every day, is an inevitability).

The thing is, if that girl wasn't wearing a shirt that screamed "LOSER" I wouldn't have thought she was a loser. No one would.

And, I know it said "Beautiful" first.

But that doesn't make it okay.

That's like saying "Only somewhat disgusting brownies". It's okay because they're still brownies, right?

Besides, if "looks don't really matter", than where does leave this girl? With a shirt that just says "LOSER"??

I've since worn that t shirt a few times. Every time I'd wear it, I'd make sure to pair it with something that covered my legs entirely. And the few times my calves were visible, I would feel so so anxious. I didn't feel like I was owning up to this insecurity. I just felt even more insecure. This past year, I put it on one day sitting in the apartment. And Bonnie turned to me and starting asking about the shirt. Finally, she told me to change out of it before the boys came over. "You don't need to feel negatively about that. No one notices anything wrong, until you throw it in their faces." Even if there was no truth to that shirt, people would see it and decide that, yes, I had ugly legs. Because then they were put under scrutiny, and they would see the flaws that I wanted to hide.

Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose?

I digress.

Our culture is one of being okay with the constant stream of negativity we throw towards each other, and it hits hardest on young girls. If you get under the skin of a girl when she's 12 or 13, and she hasn't grown into herself yet, than that bad self-image is going to stick with her, unshakeable, no matter how much her body changes.

And that's just not fair.

Grumpy kids and long train rides...Paris week 7

Last week was amazing, and incredibly beautiful. I couldn't imagine being somewhere more beautiful than Normandy. I'm absolutely convinced that this is the most beautiful country...

After we got home from Versailles, we spent a few days getting ready, doing laundry, and repacking. We were meant to leave Thursday, but changed it to Friday, which made our preparations much less stressful. 

Thursday evening I finally got around to going up Montparnasse tower, and I watched the sunset. It. Was. Breathtaking. Everyone gathered around the few areas that made for good pictures, and watched.

I was tempted to stay and wait for the sky to get dark and for the lights on the Eiffel Tower to turn on, but I wanted to walk home and I didn't want to wait 30 minutes for it to get dark.

I got one on the way home, anyway. 

And then Friday, the adventure started. 

We left at 8 in the morning to catch our train headed South. There had been an accident with a train the day before, but we had been assured that it wouldn't make a difference in our travels. Our train was delayed leaving about 20 minutes, but then we were off. 

Until right after we passed Bourdeaux...and the train stopped. And we waited 2 hours before they kicked us off the train. We took a taxi to Lourdes, which was our final destination, which took an extra 2 hours. 

By the time we got there, it had been 8 hours since we left that morning...and it was supposed to be a 4-5 hour trip. We were exhausted. 

Saturday, we headed into the mountains.

I could show you a hundred pictures of how beautiful these mountains were...

I mean, I love my Sandia mountains, but these were just gorgeous.

We had lunch at a cute place called "ze bistrot", and then we went and visited the Castle of Henry IV. It was really beautiful.

Sunday, we headed back up to the mountains to watch Nicolas, my host dad, in his bike race. 

Fun fact: they do this bike race here every year, during the Tour de France. It's the same trail that they ride in the Tour, but it's the day before the actual tour visits that city. It's actually pretty cool. And since my dad is such a fan of the Tour, it made it a bit cooler. 

We stopped to cheer after the first climb. The kids had these huge inflatable hands and they high-fived everyone that rode past. It was hilarious.

After lunch, we stopped at a Zoo, and they had some of the funniest things...like an insect habitat. I laughed pretty hard at that one.

How cool is it that they let them into the habitat?!

"Hotel Insectes"

It was raining pretty hard by the time the race finally ended later that day, and the kids were exhausted by the time we got home.

Monday there were a few delays in our train, but we finally made it home last night. The kids were exhausted and grumpy.

Tomorrow we head to London! It's crazy to think that I'm more than half way done with my time here...today marks 5 weeks before I go home. I'm really excited to get home(cuz I'm excited for school. How weird is that?!) but I am enjoying these last weeks so so much. The food is amazing, the people are amazing, and I am so so blessed. :)